Nexmo, Three Team Up to Push Cloud Comms Across UK

Nexmo and Three have partnered to make Nexmo's cloud-to-mobile services available across Three's mobile network in the United Kingdom. The deal gives Nexmo access to more devices and lets Three tout compatibility with more mobile apps.

Nexmo provides the backbone infrastructure for services such as Viber, LINE, and Airbnb. It lets app developers gain instant access to Nexmo's partners without the need for them to go out and build those relationships themselves. Nexmo's offering is key for smaller companies that want to be able to scale quickly. Not only does Nexmo provide the infrastructure, but the company also includes tools such as analytics, control over latency, and quality of delivery.

Nexmo claims to power 80% of the world's over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps. Perhaps the most well-known OTT app at the moment is WhatsApp, which uses the data network to send messages between mobile devices, rather than use the carrier's typical messaging platform. Other OTT providers (but not necessarily Nexmo's customers) include BBM and Skype.

Nexmo already has a wide array of APIs available to developers. Nexmo's Cloud APIs, for example, let app developers create text and voice services that can reach mobile devices globally. Just last month, Nexmo released a series of Voice APIs. Using the Voice APIs, developers can add comprehensive voice capabilities to their apps, such as text-to-speech, cloud-based voice interactive applications, phone number provisioning, as well as intelligent call management.

Today's news means that Nexmo's customers have more reach throughout the UK. Three covers 86% of the UK population with dual-carrier High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and will get its LTE deployment off the ground later this year. Three is promising to offer 4G in 50 cities by the end of 2014 and cover 98% of the UK's population by the end of 2015. Three has more than 8 million customers, and the UK has a total population of about 64 million.

"Every day we strive to ensure unsurpassed delivery of our services to any mobile devices around the world," said Nexmo CEO Tony Jamous. "Today's partnership with Three further expands our capability to offer business-critical cloud communication solutions for any messaging need."

Nexmo already has similar partnerships in place with 180 carriers in 60 countries around the world.

About the author:Eric Zeman
I am a journalist who covers the mobile telecommunications industry. I freelance for ProgrammableWeb and other online properties.